Should the Catholic Church bring back the Legion of Decency?

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GloriaPatri4

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Should the Catholic Church reestablish the Legion of Decency?
From “My Catholic Faith” by Most Reverend Louis Laravoire Morrow (C) 1963:
"Pope Pius XII taught that the modern media of communication-films, radio and television are “remarkable inventions of man’s genius,” but at the same time “gifts from God.” As such they are good in them-selves and intended by God to be useful to man.
Today more than a few motion pictures are immoral and indecent. Qw must, therefore, choose only the good and avoid altogether objectionable films. to guide and assist us in this choice the National Legion of Decency, working under the hierarchy, publishes moral ratings on current motion pictures. To ignore these ratings is to expose ourselves to moral danger.
Once a year, on the Sunday following December 8th, feast of the Immaculate Conception, we renew the Legion of Decency Pledge to freely promote what is good and to oppose, especially by our example, what is bad in motion exhibition. Since the film industry supplies only what the public buys, the keeping of this Pledge is your ballot at the box-office for good films.
From the article linked below:
Strengthened by the Sovereign Pontiff’s backing, the Legion of Decency was the greatest boycott this country has ever seen. Hollywood got the message and, for the next three decades would enjoy the golden years of movie-making, always under the watchful eye of the respected and feared Legion of Decency. Back then Gone with the Wind was condemned because it dealt with divorce and the word ‘damn’ was in it. Some say that’s too scrupulous. Yet look at the alternative. That would be what we have today when anything goes.
There is hope however for history is cyclical. And it’s the lesson of history that should prompt the Church into reestablishing itself as the moral authority. She did so here in America 67 years ago in 1934 when the Legion of Decency was established. The Bishops of America at that time realized the great scandals that were afoot and the power of the celluloid. Movies like Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra, Mae West’s I’m No Angel, The Gay Divorcee with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Of Human Bondage and the racy Tarzan and his mate film with Johnny Weismueller in which Maureen O’Sullivan romped around the jungle in skin-tight animal skins and had a nude swimming scene. Enough was enough. The jungle of sin had to be cleared. The Legion of Decency came to the rescue with a strict ratings scale that would spell doom to a producer if it was rated “C” for condemned. Even a “B” rating was death’s rattle for the studios. The reason it carried such clout was because Catholics everywhere took a pledge to uphold whatever the Legion of Decency said.
Please read article in its entirety
dailycatholic.org/issue/2001Aug/aug20ed.htm
 
No. At best, this would be a paper tiger. It would make the Church look powerless. As it is the USCCB rates movies.

John
 
Yes, and with the same standards it had for movies in the 1930’s. This would make it clear to movie fans that no current movie, including The Passion is fit for human consumption.
 
A Brief History of the Legion of Decency

By Rick Kephart

The Legion of Decency was formed in 1934 to combat immoral movies. People took a pledge, in church, against bad movies. They pledged not only never to go to any morally objectionable movie, but never even to go to any movie theater that had ever shown a morally objectionable film!

This was very effective in discouraging Hollywood from making movies which would earn the disapproval of the Legion of Decency. And the Legion of Decency’s ratings were very strict, much more strict than the modern Catholic Bishops’ movie rating system (which has been sadly ineffective in influencing the making of movies).
Catholics used to be united, strong and strict, and then they were a powerful force to be reckoned with by the movie industry!

Around the end of the 1950’s, things began to change. The emphasis was taken off condemning bad movies, and a deliberate effort was made to make The Legion of Decency more `positive’. The pledge gradually faded out of use, until it was finally completely forgotten.

By 1975, the Legion of Decency had ceased to exist. It was replaced by the Bishops’ new Catholic rating system. That ended the Church’s influence on the movie industry. Movie standards continue to drop.

In researching the history of the Legion of Decency, this disturbing bit of information came up:

I called the library at St. Charles’ Seminary for information about the Legion of Decency. Whomever I spoke to had heard of it, but knew nothing about the pledge. He looked it up in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, and told me what it had to say about the Legion of Decency.

In 1957, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical called Miranda prorsus. The Encyclopedia claimed that the encyclical called for the Legion of Decency to be more positive, to put its emphasis on promoting good movies rather than condemning bad movies, and have more respect for people’s consciences. In response to that encyclical (so claims this Encyclopedia) the Legion of Decency changed, very gradually (with no definite date). Eventually, it went completely out of existence, to be replaced by the rating system we now have.

I asked the person on the phone if he knew where I could get a copy of that encyclical, so I could read it myself. He said he thought it was most likely out of print.

But I found one, and read it.

Read more
lphrc.org/rmk/Cath/legion.html
 
John Higgins:
No. At best, this would be a paper tiger. It would make the Church look powerless. As it is the USCCB rates movies.
Perhaps this service needs to be utilized more among Catholics. I already have trained my kids to look up the movies and check the USCCB rating before any movie is seen. It is far more useful than the industries own system.

I have no problem boycotting morally offensive movies.
 
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GloriaPatri4:
By 1975, the Legion of Decency had ceased to exist. It was replaced by the Bishops’ new Catholic rating system. That ended the Church’s influence on the movie industry. Movie standards continue to drop.
Eraserhead (1977)
 
John Higgins:
No. At best, this would be a paper tiger. It would make the Church look powerless. As it is the USCCB rates movies.

This is true. The USCCB website has movie reviews. I understand that many regional Catholic periodicals carry many of those reviews. The reviews are, in my opinion, very well written in a terse, in-your-face, style. I enjoy reading them just for fun.

John
 
I think the Legion of Decency was effective only when it was generally in accord with the feelings of the majority of Americans. Since the 1930’s and 40’s Americans have come to frown on censorship of the arts, particularly movies and literature. There was a reason the Legion of Decency went out of operation; it became irrelevant.

Catholics can still avail themselves of the USCCB ratings on films. I have read the reviews and compared them to the movies. I have found those reviews to be short, to the point, and invariably accurate. These ratings are good for family reference when deciding what movies to watch.

To some degree there are still some limitations on radio and television. Since they use public airways and are easily accessible to all, as opposed to books and films, they are subject to more control, although it can be argued that such control is waning.

I am opposed to censorship of books, as was the case with, for example, James Joyce’s Ulysses. I am old enough to recall when the sobriquet, “banned in Boston” was used to promote sales of books. More than that, such censorship smacks of book burnings that have taken place in the past under the most awful circumstances.
 
in reality, it only disapeared because more and more just ignored, or flat didn’t care…

I’m not sure the resurection or re-invention per-se would accomplish much. IMHO
 
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